Letter: Reader opines on Baughn’s proposals

Tuesday

May 21, 2013 at 8:06 PMMay 21, 2013 at 8:07 PM

I read Trina Baughn’s Guest Column of May 14 with great interest. I voted for Ms. Baughn, and I am delighted to have her serve on the City Council, which has long needed someone who would ask hard questions.

To the Editor:

I read Trina Baughn’s Guest Column of May 14 with great interest. I voted for Ms. Baughn, and I am delighted to have her serve on the City Council, which has long needed someone who would ask hard questions.

I agree with her that funding for the Chamber of Commerce should be reduced. I think zero is a good round funding number for that organization. The Chamber has apparently never heard a developer’s pitch that it disbelieves. I really don’t know that the Chamber has helped Oak Ridge at all.

I also agree that the Parks and Recreation Department funding can be reduced, but I think some of this can be offset by charging the local sports leagues usage fees. Our parks are one of the success stories that help attract new residents.

And I am not sure that Oak Ridge needs to spend $60,000 on memberships in associations and clubs. Same for travel expenditures. The city needs to look closely at these cost centers to identify which are delivering value, and which are not, just like corporations do.

I also think the traffic cameras are poor ambassadors for Oak Ridge — I avoid much of the turnpike because of these traps.

I don’t, however, agree with Ms. Baughn’s every position. I say that the library funding is sacrosanct: hands off! Free access to information is what helps guarantee our freedoms. As Thomas Jefferson said, "Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights." Libraries are essential to a well-informed public.

I would also add, though this was not addressed in Ms. Baughn’s column, that funding for our schools should not suffer. The quality of Oak Ridge schools was a prime attraction for me and my family when we moved to Oak Ridge in 1987, and it is still a prime attractant for young families.

Don’t short change the things that are already working in our favor. If there is one area of city expenditure that should be boosted, it is in attracting young families to move here. This expenditure will be repaid in increases in housing prices, retail, and of course, tax revenues.